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Siege of Antium
The Siege of Antium was a two-year siege undertaken by the Roman Legio I Alaudae (commanded by Marcus Furius Camillus) against the Volscian capital of Antium (now Anzio, Lazio) from 395 to 394 BC. The Romans defeated several powerful sortie attempts, and they were ultimately able to take the city by storm. Antium's fall led to the conquest of the Volsci by the Roman Republic, which was now focused on fighting back the expansionist Frentani on its eastern borders. Background In 396 BC, the ambitious Volscian king Marcus Crispus embarked on an invasion of Rome from its southern borders, but his army was defeated outside of Rome in the Battle of Mons Aries; later that year, at the Battle of Aricia, the Roman general Marcus Furius Camillus pursued his battered army into northern Latium and crushed it at the Battle of Aricia, after which the captured Crispus was executed on Camillus' orders. Camillus sought to avenge the Volsci's unprovoked invasion of the Roman Republic with a punitive expedition, aiming to conquer the Volsci and bring coastal Italy under Roman hegemony. Siege Camillus' Legio I Alaudae wintered in southern Rome, and, in the summer of 395 BC, marched south into Latium to initiate the siege of the Volscian capital of Antium. The Volsci had been weakened by the rebellion of their client state, the Hernici, who were on very friendly terms with the Roman Republic, and proceeded to capture the rest of the Volsci state in the south. Antium was now the only remaining Volsci city, so several Volsci armies withdrew towards their capital. First battle After the Romans began their siege of Antium, the Volsci king Pacuvius Ummidius Flavus and his general Decimus Claudius Scapula launched a sortie against the Roman legion. The two sides met on a muddy battlefield, with 1,604 Volscians facing 2,181 Roman soldiers. The Romans extended their line further than the Volscians, who charged at the Roman center; this allowed for the Roman right wing to wheel around and attack the Volscians from behind. The Romans slaughtered the Volscians from two sides, and Camillus and his cavalry bodyguards charged and slaughtered the Volsci skirmishers. The Volsci suffered 1,411 losses, while the Romans lost only 345 men; Flavus and Scapula were among the 158 Volsci prisoners taken by the Romans, and all of the Volsci captives were executed. Final battle The Romans proceeded to defeat a sortie in autumn, led by Decimus Norbanus Bubulcus, and they also destroyed Medullinus Sempronius' army after he attempted to attack the besieging army that winter. The most spirited Samnite breakout attempt was led by the new king Quintus Clovius Burrus and his general Servius Aelius Aculeo. Burrus' army was being carried by a fleet offshore, while Aculeo's army was based on land. Camillus wisely decided to defeat the land army before it could join forces with the navy. His men repeated the same successful strategy of outflanking the Volscians before cutting them to ribbons from behind, and the Romans routed the land forces before preparing to face the next wave. Burrus' soldiers disembarked from their ships too late to assist Aculeo's force, and the Romans were able to draw up a battle line closer to the coast. The Volscians charged into battle, but the Romans were able to assign multiple units to attack the Volscian army in portions, with each Volscian melee cohort being targeted by multiple Roman cohorts; Camillus and his cavalry, meanwhile, trampled down their ranged units and caused panic within the Volscian ranks. The Volscian army collapsed, and Camillus himself rode after the fleeing Burrus, who was slain alongside several other bodyguards as they tried to escape from the battlefield. 2,569 of the 3,400 Volscians were lost, and the 263 Volscian captives were executed; the Romans lost 529 men. Fall of Antium With the Volscian navy destroyed and the garrison of Antium weakened, Camillus launched an assault on Antium in the spring of 394 BC. With 129 losses, Camillus' men stormed Antium and dispatched all of its 412 defenders, taking 67 of them captive. The Romans were victorious, and Antium - the last Volscian city - fell into their hands. Aftermath The Romans initially believed that the Siege of Antium would bring a lasting peace, as both of Rome's ages-old enemies - Veii and the Volsci - were trampled into the dust. However, in 395 BC the Hernici were attacked by the expansionist Frentani, and they called for Roman assistance. The long and costly Roman-Frentani Wars began as a result. In addition, the Volsci king Pacuvius Artorius Gellius managed to escape the city with a fleet, and he would not be defeated until the Romans brought him to battle at sea later in 394 BC. Category:Roman-Volscian Wars Category:Sieges